Image caption
Mark van Dongen had told his father Kees that he was scared of Berlinah Wallace

Warning: this story contains vivid descriptions of dreadful injuries.

Berlinah Wallace has been convicted over an acid attack on her former partner, Mark van Dongen, that left him so badly disfigured he chose to end his life. BBC News examines the extraordinary price he paid for rejecting her.

When Dr Nic White first saw Mark van Dongen in the street in the early hours of 23 September 2015, in only his underwear, she thought he'd played a prank by covering his face in mud.

She said: "I was woken by the sound of somebody shouting: 'Help me, somebody help me, please.'

"I looked out of the window and there was a guy standing there in his boxer shorts and he looked a really odd colour from his head down to his shoulders.

"My doorbell rang a few times and I knew there was something desperate going on, and it was him.

"He looked like he was covered in a clay sort of mud, which I later realised was his skin melting."

Image caption
Wallace was cleared of murder and manslaughter but convicted of applying a corrosive fluid

The night before, 28-year-old Mr van Dongen had arrived at Wallace's flat, in the affluent Westbury Park area of Bristol, to reiterate that their five-year relationship was over - and to say he was moving in with his new girlfriend, 46-year-old Violet Farquharson.

It followed multiple break-ups between Mr van Dongen and Wallace, and mixed signals from him about whether they had a future together.

In the weeks preceding the acid attack, the engineer had reported Wallace, now 48, to the police for harassment and blackmail, saying she had made 14 silent phone calls to Miss Farquharson and kept threatening to kill herself.

He had also told his father he was scared of Wallace, who had once poured boiling water on him, while friends at work said they had seen scratches he said had been inflicted by Wallace during a jealous rage.

'Help me'

So perhaps it was surprising he decided to stay the night at her flat - it was a choice he would bitterly regret.

Another of Wallace's neighbours, Thomas Sweet, left his flat armed with a golf club as he feared violence and wanted to be able to defend himself.

He said: "I heard what sounded like foxes fighting.

"It sounded like someone in a lot of pain, shouting: 'Help me.'"

Eleanor Elcocks was also woken by the screaming.

She said: "He was shouting and screaming and saying: 'Help me, I'm going to die.'"

Image caption
Each day Nic White would see the marks Mr van Dongen left on her doorbell, as the acid seared into the metal while it simultaneously melted his skin

The neighbours phoned 999 and walked Mr van Dongen to a shower at a building around the corner on Ladysmith Road - unwittingly taking him back towards Wallace's flat.